Mickey Carroll recalls ’12 peppy years’ with Koch

Veteran journalist Mickey Carroll, currently a Capitol regular for his work with Quinnipiac’s polling operation, remembered late New York City Mayor Ed Koch in a piece for Saturday’s Times Union.

An excerpt:

On one memorable day in 1978 he did a trifecta — offering a balanced city budget, settling long-delayed labor contracts and seeing Congress pass loan guarantees that would have seemed impossible when, in the depth of the fiscal troubles, the Daily News printed the most memorable headline in city history: “Ford to City: Drop Dead!”

Koch took three telephone calls that day – from Rep. Mario Biaggi, who guided the loan bills through Congress, from House Speaker Tip O’Neill and from President Jimmy Carter.

“Boy,” he said after he hung up, “the President of the United States. That’s not bad for a kid from the Bronx.” And he walked across the City Hall rotunda to tell the reporters in Room 9.